DOT taking input on Route 4 improvements
A map of the proposed changes is hanging in both towns’ offices.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

JAY – State transportation plans for Route 4 improvements in Jay and Livermore Falls include only one building being torn down. The project does include taking some land that in some places will bring the sidewalk about 1 to 3 feet closer to homes and businesses.

The 1.1-mile project will begin at Bridge Street in Livermore Falls and continue to Pineau Street in Jay. Construction, if Maine Department of Transportation includes it in the 2006-2007 budget, could begin in 2005.

DOT representative Heath Cowan said the building to be taken and torn down will be the former gas station and convenience store, now vacant, at Bridge and Main streets in Livermore Falls.

A map of the proposed changes is hanging in both towns’ offices. The DOT is allowing a 14-day comment period. After that they will move forward with their plans, Cowan said. Representatives will accept comments throughout the project.

Improvements include drainage, sight distance, greater turning radius, smoother ride and surface.

There will also be safety improvements including smoother curves, lowering high spots and raising low ones.

There will be 12-foot travel lanes with shoulders from 4 to 7 feet wide depending on how much land is available, he said.

Heading up Route 4 between Elm and Otis streets in Jay, currently there are sections of travel lanes that range from 11 to 12 feet, Cowan said. Both the town and state have opted to go with no parking along that stretch to make it safer for people, including those exiting from driveways and to ease easement impacts rather than taking more land and increasing the cost for the project.

“We have limited sight distance, we have proximity of houses – right of way impact, we have to choose,” Cowan said. “It’s kind of a balance.”

There will be 4-foot shoulders along the stretch from about Elm to Otis streets on the west side of the road, he said, which will bring the sidewalk about 1 to 3 feet closer to residences there.

DOT estimates the project will cost about $4.4 million and currently has about $355,000 of that for design and some of the right of way work. The remainder is to be considered in the 2006-2007 biennial transportation improvement plans. If it’s approved, “the earliest we could start is 2005,” Cowan said.

The curve near Franchetti’s in Jay will be improved, he said, but will have no big changes. A study showed that 85 percent of the vehicles traveling the road in that stretch are going 35 miles per hour or below with 50 percent going 25 miles per hour.

The curve meets road standards, he said. If the curve was straightened out too much, he said, it is anticipated vehicles would go faster through that section.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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